I am studying at ETH Zurich and for an internship I am living in Japan right now. I will be back at the end of this month but the problem is I just discovered that I cannot find my residence permit. I renewed it before coming to Japan yet, the card is missing and I am panicking a lot right now. It might be too late for me to go to Tokyo, which is really far away from my current location, and apply for a re-entry visa. The only good thing is that I have some kind of special passport which allows me to enter any EU country and Switzerland up to three months without any visa obligation (by the way I am Turkish). Also, I will have connection at Helsinki when I am returning back so I think no one will check my passport in Zurich because of Schengen zone, still I want to be in the safe zone.

I hope you can give me some advices or share your experiences. Thanks in advance.

As an UK citizen, I've never been asked for my permit when entering Switzerland/Schengen. I assume if you have a passport that allows visa free entry, the same will go for you. Then apply for a replacement permit as soon as you get back!

As an UK citizen, I've never been asked for my permit when entering Switzerland/Schengen. I assume if you have a passport that allows visa free entry, the same will go for you. Then apply for a replacement permit as soon as you get back!

Where have you been entering Schengen? For the past several years, every time I have arrived into Switzerland from a non Schengen destination I have been required to show my Swiss Identity card.

As an UK citizen, I've never been asked for my permit when entering Switzerland/Schengen. I assume if you have a passport that allows visa free entry, the same will go for you. Then apply for a replacement permit as soon as you get back!

I am pretty sure for non-EU they will ask. They certainly asked me in October when we returned from the states but they didn't ask to see the Swiss IDs for any of the other 4 family members I was traveling with as they have German passports...

But as Adrian says, just say you forgot it at home, and they hopefully will just tell you to make sure you have it with you the next time.

I am pretty sure for non-EU they will ask. They certainly asked me in October when we returned from the states but they didn't ask to see the Swiss IDs for any of the other 4 family members I was traveling with as they have German passports...

But as Adrian says, just say you forgot it at home, and they hopefully will just tell you to make sure you have it with you the next time.

I'm on a US passport and they definitely ask, so you must be right about the non-EU thing. In fact I got quite a stern lecture/scolding the first time I tried just giving them my passport about how I should always show my residence permit with my passport no matter what. Since then I just hand both at the same time and haven't had a problem since.

But yes, it should be fine to just say you don't have it with you. Last year I had a work trip to Japan that departed right after my permit expired, so I had not yet received the new one the mail. I asked what I should do at the kreisburo and they told me it would be fine to just show the old one and say I'm waiting for the new card to arrive in the mail. It ended up being no problem, although I must admit I was a bit nervous handing over the expired card.